


Just A Mouse

by willhenreeeee



Category: The Monstrumologist Series - Rick Yancey
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-12
Updated: 2014-10-12
Packaged: 2018-02-20 22:30:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2445482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/willhenreeeee/pseuds/willhenreeeee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A quick one-shot I wrote in the spirit of Halloween.<br/>Pellinore and Will Henry keep getting disturbed by the typical bumps in the night, but as the events escalate, Will begins to wonder if it’s more than just a mouse (or a rat).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just A Mouse

“Will Henry!”  
I had barely dozed off when I heard the cry next to me, sharp but still in a low tone. I snapped awake and shot the doctor a glare.  
“Oh, my apologies, did I disturb you?” he asked in a way that was likely more sardonic than concerned.  
“It’s fine,” I grumbled. “What is it?”  
“Did you hear it?”  
“Hear what, sir?”  
“The noise! The noise, Will Henry!”  
“I didn’t hear anything. I was asleep.”  
The doctor hissed something under his breath and sat up.  
“I’m honestly shocked you didn’t, it was quite loud. It sounded like a plate falling to the floor.”  
“A mouse must have pushed it,” I said.  
“Really? Do you suppose it opened the cabinet too?”  
“I guess so.”  
The doctor thought for a moment. “A mouse? Opening a cabinet? I don’t think that’s possible.”  
“Perhaps it was a strong mouse then.”  
It was the Monstrumologist’s turn to glare. “Are you being cheeky, Will Henry?”  
“No, sir. I honestly think it was a mouse. Though it could have also been a rat, that sounds more likely.”  
“Yes, or it could have been a mouse and a rat joining forces just to disturb our rest,” he replied dryly.  
I rolled my tired eyes. “It doesn’t matter, sir. Just lay down. You haven’t slept in nearly a week.”  
“Hmm… alright.”  
He grumbled to himself about the mice before going back to sleep.

The next night, he was shaking me once again.

“Will Henry! Will Henry! Please tell me you heard that!”  
“Heard what, sir?” I groaned, used to this routine but still exasperated by it.  
The doctor let out a frustrated grunt, and once again sat up. “The thud, Will Henry, the thud! It sounded like it came from the parlor. It was almost like a heavy boot slamming on the floor. Are you listening, Will?”  
“Yes sir… it was probably just the mouse again.”  
The doctor scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous! That was much too loud a noise for a creature small as a common mouse to make.”  
“The rat, then. Or perhaps they once again worked together?”  
Dr. Warthrop narrowed his dark eyes, and I was almost too tired to wince at the impending storm I knew was currently brewing inside him.  
“Well,” he said coldly. “If you’re so certain of your rodent theory, why don’t you go investigate?”  
“What?”  
“You heard me! Go look and see what it is. I’ll wait.”  
He crossed his arms, making his point.  
“But-”  
“Are you frightened, Will Henry? Is that it? You may bring my revolver if you like.”  
I scowled, and came within a hair’s breadth of slapping him, but since I valued my life I stood up before I could do anything drastic.  
“Alright, fine. But I insist it’s a mouse! ...Or a rat.”  
The doctor threw his hands up. “Then prove it!”  
“Fine, I will!”  
Awakened by my anger, I stormed out of the room and down the stairs, making as much noise as possible just to spite him. I went into the parlor, where I saw the bust of Darwin that usually sat on the mantle laying on the rug. I frowned thoughtfully and picked it up. I admitted to myself it would have been hard for even a rat to knock over something that heavy, but what else could it have been? I placed it back where it belonged. 

On the third night, there was a bang.

I heard it too, this time, since we were both wide awake and in the basement. I don’t know what startled me more- the noise, or the doctor’s immediate cry.  
“WILL HENREEEEE! What the devil was that?!”  
“I don’t know, sir!” I replied. “It wasn’t me, though.”  
“Clearly not!”  
He was starting to be as annoyed as I was by these disturbances.  
“Do you suppose it was your friend the rat this time?”  
I dug my nails into my palms to keep from screaming, and ran to the study.  
An entire bookshelf had been knocked over.  
“What fell?!” asked Dr. Warthrop.  
“...Just a few books, sir!”  
“That sounded like far more than a few!”  
“...Okay, a lot!”  
“Well pick them up then come back downstairs!”  
“Yes, sir!”  
I tried my best to heave the whole bookshelf up, but I was young and slight and the shelf was made of a heavy wood, so it took almost all my might to heave it back into it’s place. I put all the books back as well, deciding I would rearrange them back into their proper order in the morning. I didn’t much feel like spending the extra time to sort them. Of course, I wondered what might have done this- it was pretty much impossible that it had been done by a normal, invasive pest. But I believed the doctor would have lectured me if I had suggested anything illogical or supernatural, so once again, I brushed the event off and went back to what I had been doing.

The madness wasn’t over, however. 

A few nights later, I was in the kitchen washing dishes when I felt a cold hand on my shoulder. I whipped around, expecting to see the doctor. Where I pictured him to be leering over me, though, there was… nothing. I swallowed hard, figuring it was just a draft. But what kind of draft would be strong and precise enough to make it feel as if a grown man’s hand was gripping my shoulder? I gulped once again and searched the kitchen, just for reassurance that I was alone and merely hallucinating due to sleep deprivation. All I found was the basement door wide open.  
I peeked in, thinking that perhaps the doctor had left his study and slipped by without acknowledging me, but there was nothing but darkness and a steady stream of cold air. I shivered and shut the door, turning around to face a sight that floored me more than any other thing I had encountered working under the Monstrumologist.  
For a split second I thought it must have been him; due to its tall and lithe frame, but it quickly seemed more like a dark fog than anything else. It certainly does remind me of Pellinore Warthrop now, come to think of it, and if I wasn’t imagining things and was indeed seeing the visage of a ghost (as ridiculous as it sounds), I believe it must have been Alistair himself.  
The vision quickly disappeared, leaving me shaken and close to tears. All the events had come together to drain me. I just wanted to go to bed.  
Dr. Warthrop came in at that moment, likely wondering why it was taking me so long to do such a menial chore. His answer was simply me staring at nothing, tears welling in my eyes.  
“What the devil are you doing, Will Henry?”  
“I… I think I saw a ghost, sir.”  
The doctor stared at me for a moment, barking out a quick laugh. “Don’t be preposterous, Will Henry. Ghosts do not exist. They are mere figments of the imagination that people created in order to explain what they could not comprehend.”  
“I swear I did, sir!” I said, turning to face him. “It wasn’t mice or rats, I was wrong! It was the ghost. It knocked the whole bookshelf over, Dr. Warthrop!”  
“That’s preposterous!” he said.  
“Then what could have done it!?” I said, now crying out of fear and frustration. “It certainly wasn’t a mouse! Do you think someone broke in and did it?!”  
The doctor was starting to become overwhelmed over my emotional display, and simply waved it off. “I am certain there is a more logical explanation than a phantom, Will Henry. The bookshelf may have even fallen on its own; they are rather rickety, one of them was built in 1750.”  
“Oh… okay. I suppose that could explain it.”  
Dr. Warthrop nodded. “Now, why don’t you take a nap? You must be going-”  
Before he could finish his sentence, a plate flew off the neat stack I had made on the counter. It brushed against the doctor’s raven locks before slamming against the wall and shattering into a hundred pieces.  
The Monstrumologist stood frozen for a moment, wondering if he was going mad. Surely he hadn’t just nearly been scalped by a flying dinner plate?  
“That… that wasn’t you, right Will Henry?”  
I shook my head. “No, sir. And… I don’t think mice can throw things like that. Let alone rats…”  
The doctor looked down at me slowly. “I… let’s both go to bed.”  
“But what about the plate?”  
“We’ll… we’ll clean it up later.”  
He pressed a hand to his forehead; I believe he was fearing for his own sanity.  
I nodded, and we just stood there, still absorbing what had just happened.  
In that moment, there was a bang from the basement, and though I’m fairly certain it was just a specimen the doctor had at the time, it startled us both.

I must say, to this day I have never seen another man go up a flight of stairs faster than Pellinore Warthrop did that night.


End file.
